Making Light:  Open Thread 37 ::: March 22, 2005, 06:16 PM

Xopher:

  "Eggcorns" are called 'folk etymologies' in linguistics.  Just FYI.

About the time I decided to try collecting some, I ran into a thread
on LINGUIST-LIST that called them 'reinterpretations'.  'Eggcorns'
are some subclass of reinterpretation that seems to imply a folk
etymology together with some other requirement about 'sounding exactly
the same'.  And not being in a song, because then it would be a
mondegreen, or whatever.  Too much work on definitional orthodoxy
turns Jack sour on the subject.

Hearing that these had an official linguist name didn't dissuade
me from the cute term du jour, which was then 'pullet surprises'
(as in 'the interminable speeches after the pullet surprise dinner').
I still prefer it to 'eggcorns', at least partially because I don't
elide gs like that.  At least it doesn't sound like it to me.

I'm tempted to dig up my old list and shovel them off to the eggcorn
guy, but I don't know if it's worthwhile weeding out the duplicates.
After all, someone has already told him about 'doggy dog' for 'dog
eat dog', and I don't know if it makes his cut, though it seems to
be fairly popular.  I'm particularly fond of that one because I saw
a second-level reinterpretation: 'dog y dog'.